In Your Arms

by Shannyn Schroeder

  Chapter Seven

  Sean stood over Tommy’s car and stared at the engine. “Dude. What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t keep treating your car like this.”

  “Like your car is a prize.”

  “Mine looks like shit, but it always runs. Always. Because I take care of it. Yours is ugly, and whether it’ll continue to run is questionable.”

  “Sorry, man. I tell you when it’s acting funny. Then I kind of forget about it.” He shrugged.

  Sean would never understand forgetting about a major problem with his car. Then again, he couldn’t imagine not doing routine maintenance either. Sounds of female voices echoed across the street as Sean stuck his head under the hood.

  “Cupcake,” Tommy mumbled.

  “What?” Sean jerked back from the car.

  Tommy stared across the street. Sean tracked his gaze to Maggie O’Leary and another woman. “Who’s that?”

  Tommy’s eyes didn’t leave the O’Leary house until the door closed behind Maggie. “I don’t know. I’ve seen her, though. She works at Blackstone’s.”

  Ahhh . . . now Sean understood why Tommy had said cupcake. It wasn’t a random food craving. More like a woman craving. That was something Sean could relate to.

  “Moira should be here soon. I bet she knows who Cupcake is. Maybe she can even invite her to the party.”

  “What? No.” Tommy backed up like Sean had suggested he set his dick on fire.

  Sean laughed and went back to work changing the timing belt on the car. Tommy was never nervous when he wanted a quick hookup. The O’Malleys had a natural gift for that. But Sean knew Tommy could turn into a wallflower if he really liked a girl. Because of this, Sean had to fuck with him. It was like a brotherly duty.

  “I could go talk to her. Get her name, her number. I could take her out and show her a good time.”

  But Tommy wasn’t having any of it. “Shut up. Don’t you already have a girl to show a good time? Emma seems like the kind of woman who’d be offended by this conversation.”

  At the mention of Emma’s name, Sean’s smile slipped.

  “Is she coming to the party?” Tommy asked.

  Sean grunted as he tightened a bolt. “I don’t think so.”

  He’d tried not to think about how she’d shuttled him home and brushed him off yesterday. They’d had a great weekend together. He knew she hadn’t been lying about that. He’d replayed every moment they’d spent together, and he had no clue where things had gone wrong.

  “How did you fuck up?”

  “I didn’t fuck up anything. She’s busy getting ready for school.”

  “Did you invite her?”

  “Yes.” He gripped the wrench and twisted it so hard that it slipped from his grip and clanked around. “Damn it.”

  “Not like you to drop tools. Something must be bugging you. Could it be that a hot chick finally turned you down? She got off the Sean train in hopes for something better?”

  “Fuck you.” He gave Tommy a shove before lowering himself to the ground to crawl under the car to retrieve his wrench.

  “Hey, one of you two needs to go start the grill,” Kevin yelled from the porch.

  “Why can’t you?”

  “I’m getting ice for the cooler.”

  Sean grabbed his wrench and stood. To Tommy, he said, “You get the grill. I’ll finish this up.” Then he turned to Kevin, who had stepped from the porch and was headed toward his car. “Where’s Jimmy?”

  “On his way. He said you better start collecting keys if people show before he does.”

  Sean nodded. Being a cop, Jimmy had very specific rules for what needed to happen at a party. At this point, they all accepted they needed to do things Jimmy’s way.

  He finished putting Tommy’s car back together and thought about Emma. After slamming the hood down, he took out his phone. People were already coming down the block for the party. Sean waved to a couple of guys from hockey. “Backyard,” he called.

  They nodded and waved. Sean continued to hold his phone. He didn’t do the whole dating thing. All the rules were stupid, so if he met a girl he liked, they hung out, had sex, and when it was over, it was over. He didn’t know whether he was supposed to call Emma and invite her again or just ignore it. A car door slammed behind him. He turned and saw Jimmy and Moira getting out.

  Moira carried a pan, and he hoped it contained brownies. She’d made him a pan for his birthday last year and they had been the best he’d ever had. He pointed at the pan. “Brownies?”

  “Yes.”

  He reached out. “I’ll take them.”

  She twisted her torso. “Uh-uh. You’re not taking them and hiding them for yourself. They’re for the party.”

  “I might share.”

  “One thing you O’Malleys aren’t good at is sharing.” She smiled and kissed his cheek.

  “Hey, before I forget. You know who Maggie’s hanging out with today? Some girl who works at Blackstone’s?”

  “Sure. That’s my cousin Deirdre from Ireland. She just moved in with my mom.”

  Sean smiled.

  “Are you interested in my cousin?”

  “Not me. Tommy.”

  Moira’s face lit up. “Oooo . . . that’s good. I’ll see if she’s free.”

  Jimmy reached over and curled his arm around Moira’s shoulders. “No.”

  “No what?”

  “Leave my brother alone. None of them need your interference.”

  Moira rolled her eyes. “Please. They all need some help. Just like you.” She patted Jimmy’s cheek. “Think about how lonely and unfulfilling your life was before me.”

  Now it was Jimmy’s turn for an eye roll. “Don’t play matchmaker.”

  She pouted. “Fine. I’ll nag him until he asks her out.”

  Jimmy smiled and said to Sean, “You coming?”

  “Yeah. I’ll be right there. I have a quick call to make.”

  Jimmy and Moira went through the front door instead of straight to the yard, no doubt to check on Dad. Even though Jimmy didn’t live there anymore, he still patrolled them like he needed to. Regardless of the jokes he made, Jimmy was happy with Moira. Sean couldn’t remember Jimmy ever being this happy.

  Before he thought about it any further, he scrolled to Sexy Emma. It went to voicemail, so he left a message. “Hey, Emma, I know you’re working, but the party is getting started. We have a ton of food and beer if you want to stop by whenever you’re done. Even super teachers have to eat.” He paused. “Plus, I want to see you. Later.”

  He hung up before he could say or do anything stupid. If she didn’t return his call or show up, he’d take the hint.

  * * *

  Emma held her phone and listened to the message again. She couldn’t stop the smile on her face. Sean wanted to see her. Part of her knew it was a bad idea to call him back, and even worse to go to the party. He was her weekend fling, and she sat in her car right now outside the school as a reminder that tomorrow was back to work.

  As she started the engine, she weighed her options. She could go home and cook, or she could stop by Sean’s and eat for free. Like he said, she had to eat something. Why not with him?

  She turned her car in the direction of Sean’s house and tried to come up with reasons why she shouldn’t go beyond her own self-imposed one-night rule. She’d already broken that by spending two nights and almost two full days with Sean. It didn’t mean they were heading into relationship territory.

  Sean O’Malley was not a serious relationship guy.

  They could share a burger and a beer, and that would be it. Before she knew it, she was minutes from Sean’s neighborhood, and she realized she should probably tell him she was coming. What if her lack of acknowledgment encouraged him to ask someone else to hang out? Although they didn’t have any kind of monogamous relationship, she didn’t want to walk in on him with another woman. She wasn’t that open-minded. She pulled over and sent a quick text. Still okay for me to stop by?


  Sitting in her car a block from Sean’s house with her phone in her hand made her feel silly. He’d invited her. She should just show up. Her phone vibrated.

  Of course. Come straight to the yard.

  She released a small sigh. She was totally blowing everything out of proportion and completely overthinking.

  “Get over yourself, Emma. Have some food and a few laughs. Tomorrow will come soon enough.”

  Emma had no idea what she expected when she walked into Sean’s yard, but it wasn’t a full-blown party. She’d thought maybe Sean and his family and a few friends. The entire yard was filled with people sitting on lawn chairs or on the small back porch or standing around a keg. A freaking keg? What had she just walked into?

  She looked around for Sean, but didn’t see him. She wandered toward the keg and decided that if she didn’t find him within five minutes, she’d leave. All she’d wanted was to have a quick meal and the chance to see him again. A party like this was not in her plans.

  “Emma!”

  At the sound of her name, she turned and saw Sean waving to her from the grill. Before she could say anything, another guy stepped in front of her.

  “Are you driving?”

  She stared up into his blue eyes and laughed. “Yeah.”

  “Give me your keys.”

  “Uh, no.”

  Sean came over. “Don’t mind him. This is Jimmy, my oldest brother. He collects keys, and if you’re sober when you’re ready to leave, he’ll give them back.”

  “That’s very responsible of you, Jimmy, but I’m not drinking, so we’re good.”

  Sean slid an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “Not the way it works.”

  He picked up her arm and Jimmy wrapped a zip-tie on her.

  “What the hell?”

  “The zip-tie tells him you’re the designated driver.” He looked at his brother. “Let her keep her keys. She won’t drink and drive.”

  Jimmy’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the teacher?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you’re probably safe. It’d be stupid to risk your job over a DUI.”

  “Exactly.”

  He turned and walked away without another word.

  “Your brother is kind of a dick.”

  “Nah. He’s not that bad. Parties make him nervous. He’s always afraid someone’s going to do something stupid or get hurt. He collects keys and checks sobriety, and we get to party.”

  “Seems like a lot of work for him.”

  “That’s what we thought.” He steered them back toward the grill. “A few years ago, Tommy and I had a party without telling him and didn’t take keys. He showed up with like half the police force to shut us down. We never made that mistake again.”

  Emma laughed. Jimmy might be a dick, but at least he did it because he cared about his family.

  “What do you want to eat? We have burgers and hot dogs.”

  She appreciated the simplicity. “A burger sounds great.”

  As he pulled one off the grill—an actual charcoal grill, not gas—he asked, “So how was school?”

  She accepted the burger. “I was in an empty building. Except for the custodial engineer. I like the quiet. Especially knowing that tomorrow the whole place will be filled with kids laughing and yelling and crying.”

  “Crying? School’s bad, but it never made me cry.”

  She smiled before taking a bite of her burger. After swallowing, she said, “In kindergarten, I always have a few criers on the first day. Some cry for a week or so, but they get over it. I love the kids who were in the preschool program before coming to me. They’re already trained in how school works and they show the newbies the ropes.”

  He removed the remaining burgers from the grill and piled them on a plate. She took another bite of hers and assumed she’d completely bored him with talk about her job.

  Instead, he surprised her. “What do you do when they cry?”

  “Mostly ignore it. I continue on with my plan and expect them to follow. When they realize I’m not going to fall all over them to comfort them, they get it together. It doesn’t hurt that I have awesome stuff in my room. Finger paint and trucks and blocks. What five-year-old wouldn’t want to hang out with me?”

  Sean stepped away from the grill and put his arm around her again, which she found she liked more than she wanted to. In her ear, he whispered, “I bet most twenty-six-year-olds want to hang out with you too.”

  His breath on her ear caused a shiver down her spine. She tried for a joke. “You’d be surprised how many don’t. I’m a huge hit with the under-ten set. Over twenty, not so much.”

  “I think you’re hanging with the wrong crowd.”

  As if she didn’t already know that. She finished off her burger, and Sean led her around and introduced her to people. She nursed a bottle of water, making sure to wave it at Jimmy as he walked by. Sean introduced her to Moira, Jimmy’s fiancée, before going back to the grill to cook more food. Moira was hilarious, and Emma had tears rolling down her face within fifteen minutes.

  She was glad she’d come. But when night fell, she had to go. This crowd looked like it might party late, and she couldn’t afford that. After he’d finished cooking, Sean had come back and hadn’t left her side for the entire night. Another way he wasn’t like her usual one-nighters. Something about him was different, but she was confident he wasn’t different enough to be the guy she’d want to be in a real relationship with.

  “I gotta get going.”

  “It’s not that late. Stay.”

  “I wish I could, but tomorrow is a long day for me and I have to be up early.”

  “Fine. Be all adult and shit.” He rolled his eyes but smiled. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

  “You don’t have to do that. Stay with your friends.”

  “Hell no. My friends aren’t going to kiss me good night.” He led her down the walkway toward the gate.

  “What makes you think I will?”

  “You find me irresistible.”

  She didn’t respond because he was too close to the truth.

  “That’s okay. You don’t have to admit it. I have that effect on women.”

  That she totally believed. She pointed to where her car was parked down the block. “I had a good time tonight. Thanks for inviting me.”

  “Any time. Didn’t think you’d come.”

  “I wasn’t going to.” She fished her keys from her pocket. “I really did have a lot of work to get done for tomorrow. But you called just as I finished. Like you said, I have to eat.”

  “So you used me for my burgers.”

  “Absolutely.” They stood beside her car, facing each other, and Emma didn’t want to leave. “It was a great burger.”

  Sean stepped closer. “I think it was more than food. As a teacher, you’re supposed to be upstanding and honest.” His voice was low and husky, the same as it had been in the bedroom right before he had driven into her.

  Her lips curved as she raised her chin. “Maybe.”

  He closed the distance between their mouths quickly, but the pace that his tongue invaded her mouth was anything but fast. He pressed her body against the car, and they made out like a couple of teenagers. When they came up for air, she placed a hand on his chest.

  “I really have to go.”

  He groaned and lowered his mouth to her ear again. “You make me crazy. I want to take you right here.”

  She chuckled, but her throat was dry. “Your cop brother might have a problem with that. I’m sure he’d cite us for something.”

  “When can I see you again?”

  “I don’t know. The beginning of the year is super busy.”

  “I’ll call you. Or you can call me when you have a break. Or just need one.”

  “Okay.” She smiled at him the same way she had yesterday when she’d told herself she wouldn’t be seeing him again. It was even harder this time.

  * * *

  Sean spent the week working and
drinking and playing hockey. And not thinking about Emma. At least that’s what he continued to tell himself every time he grabbed his phone to call her. She’d said the beginning of the year was busy and stressful. It was the second part he held on to. If she was stressed, he thought he could help ease that.

  But he knew that calling her while she was at work would piss her off. So he waited. When she didn’t call or text, he took it as a sign. When the weekend came and went, he knew she wasn’t interested in seeing him again.

  He couldn’t pretend it didn’t sting because it did, but she wasn’t the first girl to walk away without a glance back. The difference this time was that he cared. It had never fazed him in the past. If a woman didn’t want to hang out with him, it was her loss, right? But this felt different because he and Emma had clicked.

  He pushed it all out of his mind by Sunday, when the temperature climbed to ninety again. Fall would storm in soon enough, so he wanted to take advantage of every bit of awesome weather he could. He heard about a four-day ride through Wisconsin and knew what he was going to do with his week.

  He called Dominick, knowing that the guy would be at the garage because he never took a day off. “Hey, Dom, it’s Sean. I need some time off.”

  “I gave you last weekend off.”

  “I know, but I just found out about a motorcycle ride up through Wisconsin this week.” He quickly added, “A charity thing.” Not that Sean had a clue what charity or what they were raising money for.

  “I can’t afford to give you a whole week off.”

  Sean stood at the curb next to his bike. “Not the whole week. Four days. I’ll be back Friday.” He considered how tired he might be after days of driving and added, “Saturday at the latest.”

  “Look, Sean. You do good work. I’d hate to see you go, but if you’re not here for your shift tomorrow, don’t bother coming back.”

  Sean sighed. This was his third job this year. He’d bet his brother Kevin that he could make it six months at this one. He shook his head. He’d owe Kevin ten bucks. “It was good working for you.”